I can’t tell you how many times I see a
goalie who “looks” like they should be really amazing due to their
techniques and athleticism, but simply don’t accomplish anything
when they play.

How
can this happen you might ask? Well, it simply comes down to effort.
These “pretty” goalies have smooth moves because they’ve had enough
training to look the part, but they don’t get that you must play
with passion to have those smooth moves work. Sure, these goalies
can get away with it here and there, but when you really analyze
their results, they fall far short of their potential. When I run
clinics or teach private lessons, the goalies often here me say “way
to battle” or “good battle”. This means that I like their
competitive fire. Skill alone does not produce results. You can look
at 2009 Vezina Trophy winner, Tim Thomas, of the Boston Bruins as
the poster child of a battling goalie. Critics may complain about
his “style”, but he produces results. He positions himself smartly
and controls pucks cleanly whenever possible, but if a situation
turns desperate, he immediately attacks the shooter to pressure them
to make mistakes.

What are some of the symptoms of a
lackluster goalie? Here are a few tell-tale signs:

1) Gliding Around
The Crease
Goalies who glide in the crease, locked into a stiff stance are
vulnerable to low shots, rebounds and goalmouth scrambles. Why? By
playing so passively, these goalies cannot take away the low scoring
options of the shooters who are simply whacking the puck into open
space. Being locked in a stance hinders lateral movement and
prevents the goalies from really battling for those loose pucks
around the crease.

2) One and DoneIf a goalie bails out after one save and
doesn’t have flow to the rebound, they will give up more goals than
necessary. Many goalies have what I call a “Wow, I could have had a
V-8 moment” after their first save. They hesitate after the save and
get caught watching too long when they already should have been
moving towards the loose puck to battle for the second save.
Hesitation is costly as seconds can make the difference between a
rebound goal and a save.

3) Looking Too
Smooth
Sometimes all the rules have to be thrown out the window. Yes, in a
perfect world you can make a smooth butterfly slide or catching
glove save or pad save with perfect form so everyone goes “ooh” and
“ahh”. However, the world isn’t perfect and sometimes you have to be
able to pull desperate saves out of your tool bag to stop the puck.
If you aren’t comfortable just stopping the puck no matter how ugly
the save looks, then you probably will lose more goalmouth battles
than you will when.

4) Not Having Secondary Save
Techniques ReadyDo you block slot passes, pokecheck
puckcarriers before they can shoot, step out on your angle to force
the opponent to make a choice they don’t want to make? If you are a
puck receptacle simply waiting to be shot at, you are way too
passive.

5) Gingerly
Freezing The PuckDo you politely and gingerly put your glove
down over the puck as if the opponent is going to let you freeze the
puck without a fight or do your really aggressively pounce on the
puck and battle to get control of it?? Many goalies are WAY TOO NICE
when it comes to going after loose pucks. Freeze the puck like your
life depends on it!!